Bar Bacetto
Italian restaurant · Waitsburg
119 Main St, Waitsburg, WA 99361
Highlights
Handmade pasta, focaccia, seasonal antipasti, intimate setting
Handmade pasta, focaccia, seasonal antipasti, intimate setting
"An Italian restaurant in Waitsburg, originally opened in 2022 and nominated for a James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant. It faced financial challenges despite initial success and went on hiatus before reopening with a more intimate setup." - Harry Cheadle
"Were you looking forward to trying out Bar Bacetto after the Waitsburg, Washington, restaurant nabbed a James Beard nomination for Best New Restaurant this year? Well, look forward to something else, because owner Mike Easton just announced that it’s on “extended hiatus.”" - Harry Cheadle
"If the name Il Corvo rings a bell, that’s because the chef and owner of the now-closed phenomenal Seattle pasta legend moved a few hours east to open this spot in Waitsburg—and it's mandatory to plan dinner here on a trip to Walla Walla. See the chalkboard menu on the wall? Just order the whole damn lot. There’s focaccia so dense and moist it could stand in for birthday cake, paper-thin mortadella dolloped with quince mostarda, and quilted ravioli filled with feta and doused in jammy sungold pulp. It’s not easy to get into this 18-seat stunner, but the hassle becomes worth it when you’re sucked into a happy vortex caused by overconsumption of semolina. Let the amaro flow and have the most memorable two hours of your trip." - Aimee Rizzo
"Mike and Erin Easton of Bar Bacetto in Waitsburg, near Walla Walla, were up for Best New Restaurant." - Meg van Huygen
"In May of 2020, pasta lovers mourned the loss of Il Corvo, known as one of the best restaurants in Seattle — a Pioneer Square stalwart of nine years that often commanded hour-long waits. Little did they know they wouldn’t have to wait long to taste Mike Easton’s handmade pasta again. Last year, Easton and his wife, Erin, opened their new 18-seat spot, four hours and 264 miles southeast of Seattle, in the small town of Waitsburg, Washington. The bar has a limited chalkboard menu. There are a few handmade pastas a night, like silky squares of fazzoletti with rotating seasonal sauces. One week they’re tossed in wild mushroom and parmesan cream, and another, with Dungeness crab, tomato, and saffron. Easton also offers simple, technique-driven antipasti like fresh focaccia, cured meat, and chicory salad alongside desserts like vanilla bean panna cotta topped with a grape must reduction. Well worth a road trip into the wheat fields of Walla Walla, Bar Bacetto brought back everything Seattle loved about Il Corvo — this time, in a 1,200-person town." - Lee Musho
